Finals for my performance were a couple of weeks ago. We scored fourth out of eight, and I'm pretty okay with that. There were things we could have done better (one part was almost completely messed up, but at least it was kept in time). There's always next year (except for our senior)! Plus, this year had all-new main staff and one of the youngest groups (widest range of ages, from 7th grade to 12th. Most groups are 9th through 12th) as well as a few cancelled practices. I think we did really well, and we can work to improve it next year!

On the other hand, now that my performing thing is done, my parents took my iPod away (I needed it so I could text my dad because the school has wifi, but very little reception for my non-Internet-connected phone), so I won't be able to write as often. I'll try to write when I can get on the computer. (Sorry!)

The next chapter of The Tempered One will be up soon too, once I finish it. Only a bit more left!

Have a good day/night!

-Laurel

Notch.

The god was standing at the base of the castle, he must have been watching us.

I turned my attention away from the valkyrie. If she was as honorable as her people were said to be, then I trusted her not to attack me from behind, especially after she'd lost to me in battle.

Notch spoke again after a short silence, "I expected you to come here sooner or later, but not quite so soon. I would have added to the guard had I been aware that you were in the Aether, and ordered them to capture you"

I felt like the valkyrie wanted to say something, but did not want to disrespect her god even more.

"Calm your heart" He added, addressing the other winged girl. "I do not expect you to have defeated the dragon hybrid on your own. This girl is extraordinary"

I folded my arms. What was he trying to do? "Let's just get down to business, right, Notch?" I spat out his name like it was poison on my tongue.

He nodded, a smile crossing his face as he rubbed his bald head, "Come in, won't you, Krystal?" He spoke my name carefully, like it (or I) was a razor sharp blade he was trying to keep from slicing him apart.

I shook my head, "I'd rather stay out here. I'm sure a god like you doesn't get tired of standing?"

I was enjoying half-taunting Notch. I was too valuable for him to try to Really kill me, and I could sense the burning hatred and greed beneath his calm facade. I needed to tread carefully. He was going to try to make me stay here. And I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Very well, outside it is then. I can understand if you don't trust me"

Oh, and he still had no idea I had heard him talk to the other immortal beings of power.

"Vignar" I growled.

The god raised one eyebrow, "Are you speaking of the incident involving your friend?"

"Is that all you're calling it? An incident? Your priest blatantly kidnapped and practically tortured Shade in what he called a 'test' What is wrong with you and your people?" I said it calmly, but with a very cold and harsh tone.

"I understand your anger, but..."

"How can you say that? You can't even understand your own brother! What makes you believe you can understand us and our feelings?"

His face paled, and I noticed the valkyrie, who had stood, jumped back at the mention of Notch's brother.

"Never speak of my brother. He is long vanquished"

"Oh, really? Then why is everyone still afraid to go to the Nether? Why are there still occasional sightings of him? Why are there sometimes unsolved deaths that cannot be attributed to mobs or other Minecraftians? Why did his army attack me and try to bring me and Ty to him? You're such a liar. The Creator... Ha! Even if you say you created the entire world and all in it, you still don't understand anything in it"

I turned my back to him, feeling his anger bubbling up. But he was the one who had to stay calm, not me. I needed no information from him, he was the one who wanted something from me. All I needed to do was get him off our backs.

Honestly, if he was an all-powerful god as he claimed, he would have just looked into the past and seen how we were created, learned how himself. He would know that I could hear what he had said to the other immortal beings. But he apparently couldn't.

Notch was still powerful, but not as powerful as everything had made him out to be.

And that was a weakness.

The quickly irritated god didn't take too long to snap. He'd started out so calm and in control, then grown angry so quickly. It was easy to see why he didn't associate or speak with humans, or anyone really, all that much.

"Fine. Have it your way" He snarled, black pupils darkening even more. "Capture her"

My head shot up at the sound of someone diving, and managed to jump out of the way of the attack. Looking again, I saw it was another valkyrie. Three more valkyries.

They hovered above us, distracting me while, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Notch returning to the inside of the castle. So sure of "his" victory.

I took to the sky, matching the three valkyries. Despite the fact that her people had come, the valkyrie from before didn't look happy, only humiliated and upset.

Drawing my sword, I used it to ward off the winged women. I quickly lit it on fire when I got the chance, the fire aspect enchantment making the obsidian blade catch fire quite easily. The fire surprised and scared them. After all, feathers were flammable, unlike my webbed wings.

I used the opportunity to gauge their abilities. I had two options: fight and risk accidentally or being forced to kill one of them; or I could flee. The latter was more preferable, but I had to be careful. I was still injured, after all, even if it wasn't my good arm.

I saw the castle's form start to fade and disappear, and knew what was going on. Notch was going to run away in his castle and hope that his valkyrie warriors could capture me, but didn't want to risk sticking around himself in the likely case that I would win.

So there would be no reason for me to stay around anymore if Notch was gone.

The best part about this situation was that I believed the valkyries, who hadn't yet seen very much of me, were highly underestimating my abilities. Not even the valkyrie I'd fought knew much about me. I, on the other hand, had seen quite a bit of them in this short time, and had a good estimation.

As quickly as I could, I extinguished the fire on my blade and sheathed it. Then, I turned and flew in a random direction, ignoring the pain in my arm.

Couldn't lead them back to my brother and our base, after all.

They followed me, shrieking battle cries, but I soon enough left them behind. They were too slow to keep up. As soon as I was sure that they were long gone, I angled myself back towards Ty, and set off for "home"

(time skip)

I didn't see Ty when I entered the base, so I looked around a bit.

Our base wasn't very complicated. Basically, we'd mined out a huge area, set up a door in the entrance, and set up a couple of basic rooms. A bedroom, a small kitchen with a fireplace to cook. What it looked like was a giant pit in the ground with a few developed corners. Or in other words, it looked like a house that had been partially blown up.

"Ty! Where are you?" I called out, feeling an emptiness. Maybe he'd left the base to hunt or explore or something. Either way, he was around here somewhere, because I'd followed his presence from afar to get here.

I stepped back out the door, and avoided a shot from a zephyr as I looked around.

The sky was just starting to turn from pale blue to pale orange, meaning that nighttime was approaching soon. A few mobs were on the grass near us. Only a zephyr, one of those weird pigs, and a couple of the bunnies. It was really just a moment of silence, just before the storm. The zephyr would soon turn into a tempest, and fire those dangerous blue lighting bolts at us, if we didn't get inside soon.

I could see the dark form of someone, obviously my brother, flying towards me.

"Ty! Where did you go?" I asked as he approached.

"I just went for a quick fly, Krystal. I didn't go much of anywhere" He responded.

I paused. Something was off. Ty's voice was flat, and his eyes were blank. This was weird. Ty normally would have noticed my bleeding arm right away, and he would have been very concerned. Enderlox, even more so.

And I hadn't heard a word from Enderlox.

"Well, it's getting dark. Let's get inside. Don't want to spend another night like last, right?" I said. "Also, I have to wrap up my arm"

He blinked, "How'd you get hurt?" It was as though he'd just seen my wound for the first time.

"Fighting. I'll explain it later" I said. I was suspicious of Ty, he didn't seem like himself, and Enderlox was uncharacteristically silent.

Ty and I returned to our base. I stepped into the makeshift kitchen and lit a fire in the fireplace, warming up the base with walls of mostly stone.

Grabbing one of the bags we'd brought, I found some bandages and a bottle of water.

I dumped the contents of the bottle over my arm to wash it off, wincing at the cold. Now that it was clean, I could see that it was at least a clean stab wound. It hadn't hit anything major, luckily. It just hurt like the Nether, now that I could actually pay attention to it.

Lifting my arm, I wrapped the white bandages around it carefully, being sure not to pull the gauze too tightly.

Once I'd finished, I noticed Ty was watching me. I'd been standing beside the fire, he was a few steps back from me.

"You said you'd explain?" He asked, shrugging slightly and indicating my now bandaged arm.

"Yeah, I did" I said, turning to face him. "I found Notch's castle, but got attacked by a valkyrie. I didn't actually get to talk to Notch or anything important"

"Ah. So no luck then?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. My brother should have been able to sense that I was lying. He always knew, I almost never lied to him, but he could always tell. This had been a test, and one that he had easily failed.

I was very concerned, but I kept that fact close to my chest. Now that I knew for sure that something was going on, I wasn't going to trust him. It hurt, not being able to trust him, but deep down, I could easily justify it.

This wasn't Ty, this wasn't my brother. But what had happened to him in the short time while I'd been gone? What had happened to Enderlox? I needed to find out, and fast. I needed my brother back.